ASUS ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1650 4GB OC Review: Draws Less, Gives More
September 25, 2020The recent reveal of the next-gen Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics cards has taken the gaming community by storm. It signaled an imminent price drop of the previous RTX 20-Series graphics cards. Fast-forward to today, Nvidia’s partner brands have announced massive price drops of their Turing-based graphics cards.
Not long after, Nvidia’s competition also announced the launch dates for its next-gen architectures, which might also lead to a price drop for their previous-generation graphics cards. However, there is still no news about whether or not Nvidia’s non-RTX graphics cards, the GTX 16-series, would see price cuts as well.
The GeForce GTX 16-series is Nvidia’s answer to consumers’ demand for capable entry-level and mainstream graphics cards without the sought after RTX features such as real-time Ray tracing and DLSS.
If you’re looking to get a graphics card that won’t break the bank but will yield great performance in both gaming and professional work, then you should read on and know more about the ASUS ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1650 4GB OC.
Design
ASUS never disappoints when it comes to their GPU cooling system design. Even with their most affordable models, ASUS aesthetics are still comparable and on par with some of their competition’s mid-range models.
ASUS has equipped its Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 with the ROG Strix gaming repertoire. As it is under the ROG Strix gaming banner, the ASUS ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1650 4GB OC is equipped with the highly acclaimed heatsink and thermal transfer design – DirectCU II and wing-blade designed fans that feature 0dB technology which keeps the fans on complete standstill until it reaches a certain heat point. The 0dB technology and DirectCU II design keep the ROG Strix GeForce 1650 OC to be completely silent during non-graphically demanding tasks like browsing, office work, and online classes.
Adding more to its durability, along with ASUS’s high caliber manufacturing process, is its backplate that exudes premium ROG aesthetics. The ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1650 OC is a well-designed graphics card and is equipped with premium ROG features that can easily out-class other same tier graphics cards.
As a card under the ROG Strix banner, ASUS’ GTX 1650 graphics card is also flashy as other graphics cards under the same banner. It sports an RGB ROG logo, which supports Aura Sync, on the center of its stealthy-looking shroud.
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| The ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1650 OC requires a 6-pin power connector |
However, if RGB isn’t your thing and you just want it plain and stealthy, then you’ll be glad that ASUS equipped the ROG Strix GTX 1650 OC with an RGB power switch that lets users have complete control over it.
Performance Charts: Benchmarks & Games:
The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 falls at the lower tier stack of this generation’s graphics card hierarchy.
With its 4GB GDDR5 memory, this entry-level graphics card goes toe to toe with AMD’s 4GB version of the Radeon RX 5500 XT. However, their memory types differ, as the GTX 1650 is outfitted with a GDDR5 memory while the RX 5500 XT has the upper-hand of the newer generation, the GDDR6.
All the tests here are on 1080p resolution, while the game settings on each game in this testing suite are pushed to the maximum settings allowed for a 4GB memory.
Performance-wise, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 lags behind its competition. This may be caused by the memory type that it is fitted with, and it could also be caused by the narrow bandwidth. The ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1650 4GB OC, however, still manages to render acceptable frame rates. The frame rates it produced is highly justified by its power consumption, which will get into below.
Additionally, on Valorant, the highly favored fps game as of this writing, the ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1650 4GB OC was able to get an average of 213fps on high settings at 1080P.
Power Consumption and Temperature:
During our FurMark 1080P stress test, the ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1650 4GB OC saw a peak power draw of 83 Watts. With just that amount peak power draw, ASUS was able to push its GPU and Memory clocks to 1965 MHz and 2000 MHz, respectively.
However, on our benchmarks and game tests, we only saw an average of 67W that peaked at 81.9 watts. The only time that it spiked to 83W was on our Gears 5 run, but that’s just about it. Most of the time, it only floats at 67 – 73W. While during idle or non-intensive GPU tasks, it will only draw an average of 10W and will only peak at 12W if you are to playback a 4K, 60fps video.
ASUS achieves this kind of power draw through a combination of proprietary technologies. One of which is the 0dB technology that not only helps keep the card quiet but also helps in lowering its power consumption, as it automatically shuts offs or lowers the fans whenever the GPU idles and the temperature drops to a certain level.
To point out, at 100% fan speed, the ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1650 4GB OC draws in and additional 4W. So, when the target temperature is reached, the 0dB technology kicks in and lowers the speed, thus lowering the power along with it.
During our test suite, we only saw a peak temperature of 67C that pushed the fan speed to just 55%. And that 55% fan speed only translates to a measly 0.6W, and even when you reach 75% that will only add 0.9W to the total power draw of the ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1650 4GB OC.
ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1650 4GB OC owes its power efficiency to the Auto-Extreme Technology of ASUS that automates the manufacturing process and finishes all soldering in a single pass.
Aside from providing great power efficiency, the automated process also helps make all ASUS ROG Strix graphics cards of the same model have matching overall performance.
Is the ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1650 4GB OC for you?
If you’re someone who is conscious about the recurring bills but at the same time needs a system that has acceptable performance for both productivity and gaming, then the ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1650 4GB OC is what you need for your build.
It has the right blend of performance and unmatched aesthetics in its tier. And even though it has a power specification that’s a bit higher than Nvidia’s entry-level standards, the ROG Strix GTX 1650 4GB OC still proves to be one of the most low-powered models of its tier that presents a great performance-per-watt.
It is safe to say that the ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1650 4GB OC is one of the best graphics cards for low power consumption builds, portable builds, and most especially, for builds that will focus on online classes with a few productivity tasks.
And with that, we give the ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1650 4GB OC our “Best Value” award:
